Britain should insist that aid agencies be allowed to enter Syria's beleagured city.
Under siege: the city of Homs has been devastated by forces loyal to the Syrian regime, with many lives lost Photo: AFP/Getty Images
By Telegraph View
9:02PM GMT 08 Feb 2012
52 Comments
If anyone doubted President Bashar al-Assad’s pitiless determination to preserve his stranglehold on Syria, the flaying of Homs by heavy artillery should dispose of any such illusions. Scores have died in a furious bombardment targeting the Sunni quarters of a bitterly divided city of one million people.
The pounding of Homs comes at a moment when vetoes cast by Russia and China have wrecked any hopes that United Nations pressure might restrain Mr Assad. Meanwhile, the most powerful countries in the Arab world, led by Saudi Arabia, have withdrawn their ambassadors from Damascus, saying there is “no point” in dealing with an implacable regime. Britain and the leading Western powers are casting around for a new policy towards Syria.
They should begin by making one unequivocal demand: aid agencies must be allowed to enter Homs to alleviate the city’s suffering. Already, there are credible reports of the wounded being unable to reach hospitals because of the barrage, and of people dying where they fall for lack of medical help. Britain may find it impossible to agree with Russia and China on the question of whether Mr Assad should stay or go, but we can surely unite behind the simple demand that the Red Crescent and other relief agencies must be allowed to help a city under relentless attack. This has nothing to do with military intervention or arming the rebels: the only motive here should be simple humanitarianism.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has rightly pledged that Britain will be a leading member of a new “Friends of Syria” group. In that capacity, he should make free humanitarian access to Homs its first demand. If Mr Assad was confronted with a call that united Russia and China with the West and the Arab League, even he might find it hard to resist.
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Showing 1-25 of 54 comments
geofffrey
Today 04:42 PM
Please PM don't drag Britain into another ME conflict on moral grounds. Syria may be a sad situation, but 200 years ago, the British never would have known about all this misery. We've got 3 million people unemployed, 1 £trillion government debt, 3 £trillion personal debt.
amcgrath
Today 04:20 PM
The days when "the west" acted on ethics are long gone - if they ever existed?
"intervention" only happens when it is politically desirable. Israel is allowed to attack aid convoys with impunity, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis can be killed to save them from Hussein (once he became an irritant rather than an ally to the west).
hopefully the Leveson inquiry will continue to uncover the filthy way in which media magnates have been allowed to operate, but for as long as i can remember, any politician who has shown any shred of ethics has been branded and portrayed as some sort of kook and marginalized by westminster and the press in what seems like a coordinated attack.
bagpuss2011
Today 04:17 PM
As George W Bush might have put it, Syria ain't got much oil, so it ain't worth wastin' no good missiles on it. Sweet ol' gazoline in them Syrian hills, now that would be another question!
cartimandua
Today 03:53 PM
No let this be a lesson to Muslims who complain about our interference. Lets not interfere and then they and Lefty media will see what happens when no one does.
Its what they wanted let them suck it up.
BNarpa Lvr
Today 02:13 PM
And yet..... When Georgian President Saakashvili shelled the then Georgian city of Tskhinvali killing 200 + of his own people, cameron is in favour of it
What really happened in South Ossetia? ".. former British army officer Ryan Grist..... was acting head of mission for the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, which
acts on behalf of its 56 member governments in Europe, North America and
Central Asia as an early warning system for upcoming trouble in
conflict zones.....
On the night of August 7-8 he was in constant contact with the three
OSCE military monitors based in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali,
when Georgia launched its artillery strikes on the town of about 30,000
people.
"It was an indiscriminate attack on a civilian town," he told Newsnight.
I heard accounts, and saw evidence, of how Georgian 'Grad' rockets -
which cannot be accurately targeted - fell on residential quarters of
the town.
IgonikonJack
Today 12:50 PM
Homs has become a theater of massacre: People die in the
streets. People die in their homes. People die in hospitals--
hospitals that are, sometimes, intentionally bombarded to
discourage help for the dying--those from the conflict and
artillery barrage.
And, the world watches in amazement. Put the blame squarely
on where it lies: Russia and China who have used their veto
power to engage in another act of obstructionism as innocent
civilians die in Syria--all because of raw materialism and
strategic interests.
The question is whether this carnage has reached a point of
no return. Hafez al-Assad killed an estimated more than 20,000 people in the homs in 1982, the world didn't know
the full implications. There were no iPhones and social media
then: Just as large portions of the 1986 Tiannanmen Square masscare were obliterated. But, today it's harder to impose total, absolute news black out.
The images of heavy rtillery bombardments coming out of
Syria are unimaginably savage. The 1982 Homs siege and 2012
siege have a lot in common: Svagery and mercilessness.
Bashar al-Assad is poised to exceed his father's bloody records, unless something is done by the world community.
How can one family be responsible for killing more than 30,000 people for opposing an unelected government that
has militarized its administration? From Hafez to Bashar: the
grandchild is named Hafez--to signal another continuous Hafez dynasty and legacy in the making. This was what Mubarak planned for Egypt and Gaddafi for Libya--none of which succeeded, because of resistance from the people.
The Arab League has done more than it used to do: Idling.
This time it has seen what Islamic dictatorship is doing to
Muslims in the Middle East, and even decided to engineer
the failed UN resolution. The next questiion is what the world
does to help Syrians as China and Russia shamefully block
action by the UN.
Telegraph View has revealed some measures being worked out. Another emerging consensus is that the Free Syria Army needs support. If its viability is in doubt, it won't elicit more defections. Defections were an essential key that eroded
pro-Gaddafist military capabilities; secondary to air strikes.
Senseless obstructionism is nothing new to Russis. It faces reality too late. You remember Serbia? It did the same thing
there, but failed. Now, China another human rights violator is playing the same senseless game of obstructionism. Even Burma has rebuffed it and the northern power.
Igonikon Jack, USA
______ Verka Sadoochka
Today 02:47 PM
" How can one family be responsible for killing more than 30,000 people for opposing an unelected government that
has militarized its administration?"
How about the Bush family??
______ rationalthought
Today 02:15 PM
Wow another startling piece of "journalism" from this tedious repeater of other peoples articles
____________ hatebigots
19 minutes ago
Try do better, then. And not cheap propaganda like Assad`s media. Or Putain controlled RT.
icarustwo
Today 12:21 PM
We have no right whatsoever to become involved in this internecine struggle. Apart from anything else ,it appears we know little of the make up of the protestors/insurgents.
There are hints that the Saudi's are clandestinely funding the revolt,and if this is true,it would certainly be the end of any minorities who profess a faith beyond the confines of the Sunni sect.
As for humanitarian aid, have not the Arabs organisations that could assist? They certainly have the money.
The west has done it's bit in the area, time for the home team to pull it's weight.
unclesams
Today 11:29 AM
Let's stay out.
Ask both sides to stop violence immediately and go back to the negotiation table
______ hatebigots
16 minutes ago
You never knew about hte many times he broke his promises of ending violence...
& the many times he said the protesters were "terrorists" and refused to talk with them (he just babbles ridiculous insults), which explain why after so many months after all started the armed uprising...
I need to be more informed...
bernardthebolt
Today 11:20 AM
Pity poor Mr. Assad, he has booked himself a permanent place in the great outer darkness of the after life, sitting next to his hated father. He will of course take with him all his accolites,secret police and other assorted murderers with him. Mr. Assad, the Great God of Heaven will in due time, judge your actions whilst you lived here on earth and reward you accordingly.
aspals legal pages
Today 10:10 AM
Sadly, the paralysis at the UN is entirely the making of NATO, whose breaches of the UN mandate concerning Libya were acquiesced in by the UN itself. That mandate gave the authority for a no-fly zone, arms embargo and protection of civilians. The first two were in place quickly and relatively bloodlessly. It was NATO's obviously liberal interpretation of the third that went far beyond what the Russians and Chinese had permitted by not vetoing, that was so damaging to the Security Council's credibility - NATO unashamedly took sides with the rebels, providing them with an air force and attacking Gaddafi's forces whenever and wherever they could. They failed to protect civilians in an impartial way, as we graphically saw with the destruction of Sirte, where civilians were cowering in their homes under the onslaught. The difference was that they were thought to be pro-Gaddafi. No protection was provided to the inhabitants of Tawergha, also said to be pro Gaddafi, which was the site of what human rights organisations consider to be genocide by rebel forces.
NATO breach of the mandate actually meant that it was acting unlawfully - it went beyond the lawful authority given to it. So, it is no real surprise that the Russians and Chinese have the utmost distrust for the promises of the Security Council when it called for action over the situation in Syria. All this is a tragedy for the Syrian people as the UN Charter, which is the only lawful authority for waging war, can apparently be breached with impunity by the Security Council itself. So, any threats of armed intervention would be unlawful unless authorised by the Security Council, and we know how another such vote would go, don't we?
______ cartimandua
Today 03:54 PM
Russia and China never have to act. They are never going to be a destination country for refugees
pheasantplucker
Today 09:40 AM
...'' William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has rightly pledged that Britain will be a leading member of a ''Friends of Syria'' group.''...?
I think William is getting a bit above himself here.
What is all this ''Friends of Syria'' cobblers ?
I don't have any Syrian friends.
None of my friends has Syrian friends.
We don't even know any Syrians whom we could befriend if we felt so inclined, which we don't.
I suspect William Hague is short of friends, and if he wishes to befriend a Syrian or two (perhaps to share a hotel room with sometime), then he is free to do so - in a private capacity.
Syrians are arabs.
Syria's problems are arab problems.
Arab problems need to be sorted out by arabs.
We don't need to befriend Syrians, William.
They can find plenty of friends on Facebook if they're so desperate for friendship....
______ UndyingCincinnatus
Today 04:48 PM
My hamster is Syrian and even he doesn't care about what goes on in that country.
______ mikey2
Today 02:48 PM
Well written pheasant, we have no responsibility or interest in Syria moral or otherwise - let them get on with it. And if wee Willie Hague needs a war to feel useful let him talk about Mali - a people far away of whom we know little. Or if he is burning to promote human rights let him address North Korea...or Cuba...or(add your favourite dictatorship in this space).
NotAnotherHaji
Today 09:40 AM
"Should insist" or Cameron will do?? Have a vote rejected at the UN, try more sanctions, take back Bashirs degree, close their embassy, a statement int the house of commons, phone up Obama or declare war?
Muslims killing muslims, good.
Palfreman
Today 09:28 AM
It's a war zone. No aid agencies cannot show up. Well, they can, but they might get shot at by either side, possibly in combat and possibly stood up against a wall. That is what war is like.
trooper909
Today 08:51 AM
"Britain should insist ?" Else what ? Cameron has enough problems trying to avoid mentioning his last military adventure in Libya to "Free the people" would these be the same people now engaged in torture and imprisonment of the ex government supporters ? Let the Arab countries provide the aid this time
Geoffrey Woollard
Today 08:40 AM
It is the business of the Syrians to sort this out, possibly with the assistance of the Arab League. It is not, repeat not, our business.
______ teddyjnr
Today 05:33 PM
Yes, the best we can do is suggest to the Arab League they come down on the governments side and assist their struggle in protecting Syria from blood-drenched Islamic extremists
____________ hatebigots
14 minutes ago
Too bad no one saw "blood-drenched Islamic extremists" in the military rebels nor in the peaceful demonstrators which were massacred for last 11 months...
roverdc
Today 07:31 AM
Experience in all three places the west have intervened is that one repressive brutal regime which treated a section of their population appallingly is replaced by that group which then reversed the process
___________
What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến- phê bình gì qua bài nhận định "The agony of Homs" ( By Telegraph View) và 25 ý kiến- phê bình từ "52 Comments" của đọc giả ?
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